Differing Views on Macronutrient Intakes

I just had a very interesting conversation with a group of my fellow nutrition graduate students. A friend of mine was leafing though a nutrition magazine that I get and was surprised to see a recommended intake of 0.5g protein/lb bodyweight.

Grad 1: "Isn't that a little excessive"

I chuckle..

Me: "You don't want to know how much I eat then"

Grad 1:"How much do you eat?"

Me:"Anywhere from 1.25-1.5g/lb."

Grad 1:"What! That's a lot of protein. How can you eat that much? Do you eat 6 times a day?"

I chuckle again..

Me:"Yes"

Grad 2:"You don't need that much. You only need .8g/kg"

oh god...here we go

Me:"No...I only need .8g/kg to survive. But is that optimal? No. I use extra protein calories to displace carbohydrate calories as they are less insulinogenic (amongst other things) this allow for a more favorable body composition."

Grad 1 & 2 "hmmmm"

Grad 3:"But that is bad for your kidneys."

Ding Ding Ding...It was only a matter of time until that came up.

Grad 1: "That's actually not true." - I knew I liked this guy.

Me:"Exactly. That has never been show to be true. It IS true in renal patients."

Grad 3:"Well, I would like to see some longer term studies first."

oh lord....

Grad 2:"Well what would you estimate your macronutrient breakdown to be?"

Me: "I don't have to estimate. It is 40/30/30 on workout days and 30/40/30 on nonworkout days."

Shock spreads throughout the room that I know that off the top of my head.

Grad 3:"Why do you change you intake on different days?"

Me:"The short answer is I replace the calories that I would normally consume during my workout with protein and some calories from vegetables on nonworkout days."

Grad 3:"Well, why are you consuming the below the required 45% of calories from carbohydrates? You need at least 125g of carbohydrates to for your body to function properly."

Me:"That isn't true either. You don't need any carbohydrates to function. Your body works just great on 20grams a day. You might be tired for the first two days until your body adjusts but then you'll be all set."



This conversation when on some more but you get my point...

Tags: protein intake, graduate students, calories, macronutrient, workout nutrition

Video Friday - 300 Workout

The 300 Workout is the hottest video in the fitness industry right now. It is pretty interesting. Definitely worth watching.

Tags: 300 workout, youtube

The Transition from Eating Like Crap

Often times people experience what I call the "flip of the switch". This is the sudden enlightenment that occurs one day when you realize that you diet is full of garbage, you're 30lbs heavier then you were 10 years ago (that 3lb per year weight gain doesn't seem like a lot but it adds up), and your health is gradually going down the drain. Usually when people flip the switch they become very motivated. This can result in a total dietary turn around in the course of 24 hours.

Another senario might be you've been on vacation for a week, ate a lot of garbage, and now it is time to return to your clean eating (See Nutritionists Gone Wild).

Unfortunately, this can be a huge shock to your system. The best way to easy yourself into or back into eating good clean foods is to give your body a little digestive support. I recommend you do this through the use of probiotics and ginger tea. I have written extensively about probiotics previously and I find that ginger tea can be best used following a meal to also aid in digestion.

So don't let the initial pains of good eatin' send you back to the Big Macs and treat your GI track well as it was once said "I'd take a good set of bowels over brains anyday" (or something like that).

Tags: probiotics, diet, vacation, ginger

New Article Published on "the good" cholesterol

I'm back in the swing of things after my ice cream cake eating escapades in Hawaii. I was just made aware that a scientific article I co-authored with my doctoral mentor Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton has been published in the new Journal of Clinical Lipidology. I know you're probably thinking clinical lipidology...yawn. But this article is actually very practical as it has to do with lifestyle interventions to increase HDL-C a.k.a. the good cholesterol. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to check out the published pdf but here's the abstract and link. Enjoy!!

Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 65-73 (March 2007)

Effects of lifestyle interventions on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels

Michael A. Roussell BS, Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD

This review summarizes intervention studies that evaluated the effects of lifestyle behaviors on high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. Current diet and lifestyle recommendations beneficially affect HDL-C. Individual lifestyle interventions that increase HDL-C include: a healthful diet that is low (7–10% of calories) in saturated fat and sufficient in unsaturated fat (15–20% of calories), regular physical activity, attaining a healthy weight, with moderate alcohol consumption, and cessation of cigarette smoking. Combining a healthy diet with weight loss and physical activity can increase HDL-C 10% to 13%. When combined with interventions that beneficially affect other cardiovascular disease risk factors, this increase in HDL-C is expected to contribute to a overall reduction in cardiovascular disease risk.